Chapter 2
Kaila left a note on next to Chris as she snuck out in the twilight hours of the morning telling him that she was sorry that she left like this and to be sure to lock up when he left. She figured it would be better this way than to wake him up and give him another chance to try and coax her out of this trip, which was pointless of him to do anyway. She had done research in advance and knew what to expect when she landed, she had even learned a little of the local dialect though not enough to really hold a conversation.
As she made her way down the steps of her apartment to the awaiting taxi, she took a moment to look back, she would be homesick she did not doubt, but would get over it. She took her seat as the cab driver loaded her luggage into the trunk for her and let herself drift to sleep in the back seat?.
---------------------------------------------
Chris awoke, startled and sweating. ?Must?ve been a bad dream?? he muttered to himself as he sat upright. ?Kai!?? he yelled towards her bedroom, ?Ya still here Ka-? he stopped short when he noticed the note on the end table obviously written by Kaila in her unmistakable immaculate handwriting, which he envied:
?Sorry to sneak out on you like this, but I didn?t want to wake you up as you slept. I will be back in seven days, please try to keep calm until then. You have absolutely nothing to worry about, this is not some hostile place I am going to! These are friendly people who need my help, nothing more. Please keep an eye on my place while I am gone. Make absolutely sure you keep the door locked when you are not there, as there have been break-ins in the area recently.?
-Your BFF
Kaila
Chris let out a sigh and leaned back on the couch, this was so typical of her. She was always the more rational of the two and would find the easiest way out of a situation, whereas he was always the more emotional of the two. That always seemed backwards to him, as most stereotypes have women being the emotional one?but then again Kaila was different in many ways. It had been like this for as long as he could remember: as children Kaila was always bullied for being a nerd with how she spoke, always articulate and intelligent. Chris often would defend her, while she would remain calm throughout the entire ordeal. Those were the days he missed, when he saw himself as her Knight-in-Shining-Armor, rescuing her from the evil bullies of the playground! He let out another sigh as he brought himself back to reality: Kaila was all grown up and could take care of herself, and infact was doing better than he was?but at least she was still there for him.
Finally getting himself up he took out his phone and sent her a text simply saying ?Stay safe. Keep in touch!? before he went to rummage through her refrigerator figuring that he may as well help her clean out the stuff that would spoil over the week?by making himself a nice big breakfast.
-------------------------------
Kaila boarded her plane without much incident. It was a full flight, but she had managed to get a great deal on first class. She took out a book on various Chinese dialects and began to study?this was going to be a long flight. As the plane took off she took notice of a younger gentleman giving her looks up and down. She had grown accustomed to the attention that she got from men, being that she
was quite attractive and simply gave him a little smile and went back to her book.
Many hours, and plane changes, later she arrived at her destination. Beijing was the closest place that she could fly into, but the trip to the small village would take several hours of driving, but first she would have to find the rest of her classmates.
After disembarking from the plane she made her way to the baggage claim, where she spotted two of her friends from class, Jenna and Marcus. Jenna was of an age with Kaila, but she was more short and stout. Marcus, on the other hand, looked like he could have been an Abercombe model but had instead decided to practice medicine. She knew he was going to make many a female nurse swoon before long...
"So glad you made it safely Kaila!" Jenna said to her as they made their way through the airport. "Pete and Nancy should arrive tomorrow. They had trouble during their layover and their flight got pushed back...."
Kaila gave both Jenna and Marcus a hug, "At least we three made it. I would hate to be here all alone without a single familiar face other than the professor."
Marcus cocked a smile at that statement, "Speaking of whom...Professor Spalding said to meet her at the village tomorrow. She said we can take today to recover from jetlag and enjoy the sights while we wait for Pete and Nancy to arrive."
This made Kaila extremely happy, as she had promised to bring Chris home a souvenir and this would give her a perfect opportunity. She decided that they should check into their hotel first, however. So the three of them made their way out of the airport and out into the fresh air of Bejing....